01/15/2013

Ticats re-sign veteran centre Hage, release QB Porter

The Ticats longest-serving player has
re-upped for yet another round.

Centre Marwan Hage, who has played in
126 regular season games over nine seasons since being selected in
the second round of the 2004 CFL draft, has signed a contract
extension that should keep him in the Black and Gold through the 2014
season.

Hage has been CFL Players' Association
all-star four times, an East Division All-Star twice and a CFL
All-Star once.He has also been named the Ticats most outstanding
lineman four times and was selected as the East Division's most
outstanding lineman in 2010.

The 31-year-old bas been hit hard by
injuries the last two-seasons, however. He missed nine games in 2011
with a knee injury and then the final nine games of 2012 with a torn
triceps muscle, though he's expected to be fully healthy in time for
training camp.

Hage is also renowned for
his contributions to the Hamilton community. His community
program, Hage's Heroes, has welcomed over 5,000 underprivileged youth
to Tiger-Cats home games, fed over 6,000 families through food drives
and made numerous donations to local charities since its inception in
2007. He was honoured with the CFL's Tom Pate Memorial Award in 2009
in recognition of his efforts in the community.

The team also announced
that it had released quarterback Quinton Porter. In five seasons with
the club, Porter amassed just over 4,000 yards passing, 21 touchdowns
and 18 interceptions. Though he was given the starting job at the
beginning of the 2009 season, he was never able to establish himself
as the No. Quarterback. He was scheduled to become a free agent in
February.

I too am glad a) that the team is making some decisions about free agents (so far releasing five)

b) glad that Hage is back if only for his leadership on the field for the younger players. Yes he has had injury problems the past couple of years and is getting older but that doesn't mean he can't have a healthy season. O'Neill proved to be a reliable back up when needed.

c) not surprised that Porter was released. He was given virtually NO opportunity to play last season even in short yardage where he had been successful many times. I wondered if Austin might keep him but it could be that he no longer wants to play second fiddle and prefers to take his chances catching on as a starter, although he didn't have much success a few years ago. Seems that he didn't have the opportunity on the Ticats to really get the confidence to be a good starter. I got the impression that he was thrown into a starting role maybe a bit too soon. I guess it remains to be seen if it will come back to haunt us. Meanwhile, they do need to find someone who will be able to replace Hank eventually. He won't be playing forever. Maybe LeFevour will be the one.

Nice to see Hage signed.
As far as Porter. A wasted talent. This team's need to be be successful right away every year makes developing a QB a challenge.
This team historically has had difficulty finding and developing QB's so it has usually relied on free agency or trades to acquire a quality QB. Maybe with good coaching,Porter's potential will be finally realized.

Little point in keeping a guy whose potential is still unknown after FIVE seasons with the team. One could argue he wasn't given a chance last year, but I find it hard to believe Cortez wouldn't have noticed something in practice if the lightbulb had gone on for QP (and that those in management who are still around wouldn't have given Austin their opinion on that too). Team is better off taking risks with younger players who have similar tools and possible upside, who may be more teachable.

Good luck to Porter.

And I'm glad Hage is coming back, and hopefully he can stay healthy. If he can't, so be it but he's one of the best and deserves a chance to re-establish that. The team still needs to develop more young talent though for the not too distant future.

GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH!!! Are you all blind or just bleeding hearts porter is terrible!! Did noone of you ever see him play how about last year preseason he was just pathetic if cortez ever put him in this season I would have turned the game right off he must put butter on his gloves. I hope he does land on another team because then it becomes a seven team race to the 101st grey cup!! Dan lefevour now that's an exciting kid!!

Both guys are class act players I just hope signing Hage won't hurt the cat's chances to sign Petrus or extend Dyakowski.Porter deserves a real shot at a starting job in this league and I hope he gets it.

Great to see Hage resigned. Not surprised about Porter, after a getting his chance early in his career here he never seemed to get another one. I will not be surprised if he is successful with another club.

Unfortunate that QP is a free agent this winter and the Cats have had to cut him loose now. If he was under contract to the Ticats they might have kept him this year and then expose him to Ottawa in the December expansion draft. Then we might be able to protect another more valuable player if Marcel Bellefeuille (Ottawa's future coach) wants Porter as an experienced CFL quarterback. Just thoughts. I always liked QP since the first day I saw him in training camp..great size, rocket arm and could run but something always held him back...too bad...maybe he is just too nice a guy.

All the best to Quinton. I hope his next opportunity works out for him. Cortez could have put him in a lot more than he did last year.
Great to see Hage re-signed. I'm convinced the Cats always played better whenever Hage was in the game. I hope he stays healthy.

Glad Hage is back to mentor the slew of young OL showing up to camp this year... maybe someday my wish for an all NI OL will come true...

Pretty sure QP made it clear last season he wasn't coming back... my guess is there was no interest via trade so might as well cut him loose now since we're going to lose him to FA anyway...

Been watching lots of NFL playoffs... man those young rookie and 2nd year QBs are exciting... no reason in the word why the Ticats cannot find a good young QB to step in and have an immediate impact the way Luck, RGIII, Wilson or Kaepernick (sp) have done for their teams... all the more reason not to mourn losing QP...